IRAN: Iran for the first time admitted selling drones to Russia on Saturday, but claimed this occurred “months” before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that a “small number” of drones were sent a few months before Russia’s intervention on February 24.
Iran’s confession has sparked fury in Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has accused Iran of “lying” and “terrorist cooperation” for aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine by claiming that Kyiv’s forces were shooting down at least ten unmanned aerial vehicles every day.
In the most thorough response from Iran to date, Amirabdollahian refuted claims that Tehran was still giving drones to Moscow.
“This fuss made by some Western countries that Iran has provided missiles and drones to Russia to help the war in Ukraine—the missile part is completely wrong,” he was quoted as saying by the official news agency.
“The drone part is true,” he said. “We provided Russia with a small number of drones months before the Ukraine war.”
In recent weeks, Ukraine has reported a rise in drone attacks using Shahed-136 drones, which are built in Iran, against civilian infrastructure, including dams and power stations. Russia disputes the claim that its military attacked Ukraine with Iranian drones.
In a video speech, Zelensky, refuted assertions that Iran was just giving Russia a small amount of products, adding that Ukraine had just shot down 11 drones on Friday.
He added that if Iran keeps denying the obvious, “the world will make even more efforts to investigate the terrorist cooperation between the Russian and Iranian regimes and what Russia pays Iran for such cooperation.”
Separately, Robert Malley, the U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, tweeted that the claim that Iran had sent a few drones was “untrue.”
He claimed that “dozens” had been transferred just last summer and that “military personnel in occupied Ukraine are helping Russia utilise them.”
Additionally, he discussed Iran’s denial, writing, “Iran denies it, but the evidence is in plain sight: the UAVs they sold to Russia are being used against Ukrainian civilians.” Iran’s leadership may have thought they could get away with helping Russia’s brutal aggression in secret. They could not.
Tehran would “not remain indifferent,” Amirabdollahian reaffirmed, if it were established that Russia had used Iranian drones against Ukraine.
Three Iranian generals and a company accused of selling drones to Russia have been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom in retaliation for these transfers.
In response to alleged arms transfers to the nation, Kyiv opted to drastically cut off diplomatic ties in September.
Also Read: Rules or Rebellion: Life for Young Adults in Iran
